Medical tubing and catheters are widely employed for a variety of treatment and diagnostic procedures involving, for example, the administration of fluid medications and devices into a patient and the removal of fluids from the patient. In the present disclosure, the terms “catheter” and “medical tubing” will be used interchangeably to refer to an elongated structure having a lumen extending therethrough suitable for medical uses.
The particular use for which the medical tubing is designed requires the tubing to have certain physical characteristics that can vary between uses. Further, different portions of a single catheter are often required to have different physical properties to achieve the desired functionality. For example, a catheter must be sufficiently stiff or rigid to enable its insertion and movement through narrow body orifices and channels and, in some applications, must also be able to withstand a high bursting pressure. On the other hand, a catheter must be sufficiently soft and flexible so that it may readily conform to body shapes so as not to cause injury to the interior wall of a patient's vessel as it is advanced. In addition, a catheter must be of sufficient mechanical strength to resist tearing during normal use, such as when the catheter is removed against tissue resistance.
Accordingly, there remains a need for medical tubing and methods of manufacturing medical tubing that address shortcomings of the previous devices and methods.